Dear Friends, Neighbors and Members of St. Cyprian's,
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to catch up with an old friend and she asked me what was the hardest part of my work at St. Cyprian's. There are many challenges, as there are in any job or vocation. The tough things I deal with are probably issues that 3/4 time vicars of urban churches deal with all the time. To me, the challenge is about prioritizing what gets my attention and how much of it. Especially when everything seems to arrive marked URGENT, IMMEDIATE REPLY NEEDED YESTERDAY. In a larger institution, there are many people who can specialize in a given area, perhaps a whole department that handles one aspect of an organization's life. Of course, there's somebody that tries to keep tabs on everything that's going on, but that person can trust that certain things are givens. That's not the case at St. Cyprian's.
For example, almost simultaneously I had calls asking about an exterior drain needing clearing, someone whose aunt is dying and another about a special event we're hosting in a few weeks. I'm pretty good at multitasking--perhaps its my ADD--but in the back of my mind are additional matters, like why isn't the office phone working, did so-and-so get paid, and when will I have some time to write that sermon?
We are working hard together reaching for shared dreams of vitality in which we honor our congregation's unique past, and serve as an inspiring place for contemporary people who range in age from 9 months old to well over 90. We also prayerfully consider the long haul: what might we do now that will help those who enter our doors 5 years,10 years and 50 years from now? All the while, we are striving to stay close to the foot steps of Jesus together, and attempting to keep up with that trickster comrade in all of us, the Holy Spirit, who turns worlds upside down. As the saying goes, if you want to make God laugh, share your plans.
A better quote I'm sure I've shared with you that helps me not be too anxious and remain hopeful is by the great writer and monk Thomas Merton:
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
- Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"
Abbey of Gethsemani
